Sebastian Schulze leads a shrinking field of Main Event hopefuls in a chase for the $10,000,000 top prize at the 2025 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, while Chad Power lurks in second and polarizing loudmouth Will Kassouf remains in the top ten for Friday's Day 6.
Day 5 of the 2025 WSOP Main Event started with 522 players and squeezed its way down to 202 for the next session, set to start at 12 noon Vegas time on Friday in the Horseshoe Event Center.
It's never dull in the thick of the Greatest Poker Tournament, and Thursday's action saw what might have been the 'hand of the Main Event' so far. Day 5 also witnessed a gritty day from Poker Players Championship winner Michael Mizrachi, who will return with a dangerous amount of chips after a punchy day on the feature table.
Kassouf stalks the leaders
This is Schulze's second cash of the summer series and only his third at the Vegas WSOP. He previously finished 731st in this year's Milly Maker and 356th in last year's Mid-Stakes Championship. A variety of other finishes are sprinkled throughout his resume on The Hendon Mob with the only six-figure score coming in a European Poker Tour Second Chance win at the last Barcelona stop.
Schulze is the only player above 10 million in chips, but Power isn't far from that watermark. Power has finished deep in the Main Event before, and his best was in 2015 with a 26th-place run. He had another top-100 Main Event score in 2019.
Not far behind either of them is Kassouf, who will return in the top ten on the leaderboard after a surge of chips late in the evening. Kassouf has been loud since he showed up, and that will only continue to a fever pitch. Is he good for poker? Who knows, but poker is being good to him right now. Expect plenty more of the feature table spotlight for Kassouf, whether you like it or not.
Also returning is Rene-Charles Angelil, the son of global music superstar Celine Dion. The lifetime poker player spoke with us on Thursday, and he will continue his dream ride from the middle of the pack.
Fantasy sweats still in
Seven fantasy runners remain with two ODB Bonus Players and five Fantasy Freerollers still tabulating points for their owners. Maksim Pisarenko is the most stacked of the seven, while Mizrachi and Nick Pupillo aren't far behind. Mizrachi is an ODB Bonus Player, along with low-stacked Francis Anderson. Esther Taylor, Adam Hendrix, and Isaac Haxton round out the rest of the fantasy group. We talked with Taylor today, and she is definitely having a moment.
The Main Event is a big deal for fantasy players with a Field Bonus worth 97 points for the top 99 finishers. A Main Event win would bag 272 fantasy points and a ninth-place finish gets 127.
Decorated field wants more
The aforementioned Pisarenko, Mizrachi, Pupillo, Haxton, and Anderson are all on the list of bracelet winners still left in the field, a list which is led by Braxton Dunaway. Bruno Firth, Mizrachi, and 2012 Main Event champ Greg Merson are the only players who have multiple bracelets, while players like Leo Margets, Bradley Jansen, Leon Strum, and Chris Dombrowski all want to add a second.
Merson returns on the top half of the leaderboard with just over 2.9 million in chips, good for 48 big blinds on Day 6. The only remaining Main Event champion left in the field won two bracelets and the Player of the Year title in 2012, but he's been relatively quiet around the series since then. His last six-figure score at the WSOP was a fourth-place finish in the $5K NLH in 2015.
A few notable chip counts:
- Sebastian Schulze: 12,745,000
- Chad Power: 9,540,000
- Braxton Dunaway: 8,600,000
- Will Kassouf: 6,900,000
- Kenny Hallaert: 5,745,000
- Maksim Pisarenko: 4,415,000
- Adam Hendrix: 4,345,000
- Eric Afriat: 4,250,000
- Michael Mizrachi: 4,025,000
- Nick Pupillo: 3,930,000
- Greg Merson: 2,960,000
- Leo Margets: 2,810,000
- Isaac Haxton: 2,580,000
- Esther Taylor: 2,100,000
- Thi Xoa Nguyen: 2,000,000
- Donnie Peters: 1,430,000
- Francis Anderson: 750,000
The remaining 202 players are each guaranteed at least $60,000, with a jump to $70,000 at 161st place. Action continues in Level 25 with blinds at 30K/60K/60K and they are expected to play another five two-hour levels on Friday.
Deeb falls in $50K
Elsewhere at the WSOP, the $50,000 High Roller is playing late into the night in attempt to reach a final table from its original field of 252 entries. They're all fighting for a $11.9 million prize pool, $2.6 of which will go to the winner on Friday.
No longer fighting for the top spot is Shaun Deeb, who bowed out in 19th place for $123K. It's another fighting finish for Deeb, but not enough to completely shut the door on the Player of the Year race. His main chaser Benny Glaser also cashed, while Martin Kabrhel has been out of the tournament for a while.
The World Series of Poker is back on Friday for Day 6 of the Main Event, Day 3 of the $50K High Roller, and plenty of other action to feed your poker appetite. Be sure to return for PokerOrg's coverage of everything, live from the floor at the Horseshoe and Paris in Las Vegas.
